The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-07-02
No. on again Let the story teller tell

mo, on again LIEU buc 5Ory toucI tol
the rest.
He must slow up, but do it so nicely
that, when he does come up with them,
there shall be the least possible shock;
for here is the hardest part of the bust
ness. He has nobody to help him
"couple." He must be for the nonce,
both engineer and switchman. He had
not thought what formidable job this
was until it stared him in the face.
On he flew revolving the situation in
his head and adjusting his engine with
the incest care until he was upon the very
heels of the runaway; then, with many
misgivings, slipped out OF the engine
house and crswled along the side Of the
locomotive, and down on the "cow-
catcher"
Here, selling the long coupler in one
hand and holding on with the other, he
stood watching with breathless interest
the approaching collision. The suspense
was agonizing. The situation was peril
GUS. A gust of wind might sweep him
from his place, he might be shaken off or
crushed.
He was almost panic. stricken. A dozen
times he was at the point Of turning back.
To his startled ears the air was full of
uncanny sounds-the sweep of another
tornado, the rush OF the Lightning"
Just ahead. But he had in him the stuff
which heroes are made of. The hero, re-
member, is not he who is insensible to
danger. but rather he who feels and real
ICES, but yet overcomes it.
The "Meteor" drew nearer and nearer
the flying train. Dave had used excel
lent judgment in regulating its speed;
for at length it came up with the rear car
with scarcely shock, so that Dave could
reach over and drop in the pin.
Then clambering back into the engine
house with trembling esgerness he seized
the "throttle." To his amazement the
train did not stop. Instead of the Me-
teor's" stopping the runaway, the run
away dragged the Meteor" along in It's
headlong fight. Dave was horror-struck.
He had thought the train would stop at
once. He had not calculated what tre-
mendous impetus all those heavy cars
had acquired.
Now, then, the tussle The train began
to slow up. 1t came to stand-still.
Then the backward pull. Slowly they
got under way; but the wind and up
grade were against them.
Dave began to get anxious. "The
Lightning" must be due by this time.
He kept a sharp lookout behind and
whistled like mad around the curves. At
length he entered upon the long, straight
level line of road which extended clear to
Blankton. Dave breathed freer. 1t was
the home.stretch-a good ten-mile run.
Hardly had he congratulated himself,
when far behind-but Enthusiastically
heard the scream of the "Lightning's"
whistle. He was going already at his
topmost speed. Hewas making not more
than thirty-fi miles an hour, while the
lightning" was coming on at the rate
of sixty. With horror he heard it gain
ing on him: the next whistle was nearer,
and at length when he had made only
two-thirds the distance the CLEAN of its
headlight came shooting round wooded
curve in his rear.
Out of the very despair of the moment
Dave gathered calmness. He turned his
back on the pursuing train, he cast no
look behind, he shut his ears to its on
coming roar; looked straight ahead, kept
his eye on the track, his mind on his duty.
He is almost there-he is there, he
dsshes past the station-house, across the
switch and down at last upon the side
track.
1t is all right. Jake and Jim are there.
They have thrown the switch back in
time; and the Lightning" goes whizzing
and shrieking past.
When Jake jumped aboard the "Mete-
OF" his son tainted dead away in his arms.
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